I’ve never been one to pray big prayers.
My prayers are usually no bigger than my little self and my little world.
Every weekday morning, I get up at 6 AM and after a pit stop at the bathroom, I crawl onto my spot on the sectional (that has a permanent indention) and I do my morning ritual. I read a chapter of the Bible and then spend some time in prayer.
I have a rosary that I got when Brad and I were in Mexico. The beads are made of turquois and black coral and I hold it when I pray. I’m not Catholic, but feeling something in my hands keeps me focused.
I start with the Lord’s Prayer, followed by Gloria Patri, then the Jesus Prayer. Then I go freestyle.
And it’s nothing terribly adventurous. I pray for Brad, the kids, other family members, any issues that may be on my mind, whichever friends are going through something specific at the moment. But I’m hardly pounding on the doors of heaven in desperation. More like a casual, obligatory knock, just to check in.
Earlier this week a video went around Facebook of some speaker challenging her audience with praying too small. She said something I can’t get out of my head, “If your prayers aren’t scaring you, I guarantee they’re not scaring the enemy.”
Ouch. Yep, Satan is probably deliciously bored with my prayers.
I remember Hurricane Season of 2004. Charley had blasted through Florida doing significant damage in Orlando, if I remember right, and clipping the edge of Ocala. Then Frances showed up and just sat down on the entire state. One of the biggest and slowest-moving hurricanes of all time.
Power was out for days, even weeks for some. Trees down. Flooded roads. It was a mess. And the Baptists did what Baptists do best (besides, well, baptizing people): They mobilized.
Disaster relief teams started pouring into town, using First Baptist of Ocala as headquarters. All the church ladies with power sent home-cooked meals for the precious volunteers who spent their days helping total strangers.
I was helping serve dinner there one night and was passing through the dining room as one of the team leaders was giving the plan of action for the next day. We had just gotten word that Hurricane Ivan was on the way and a low-grade panic had filled the room.
But the speaker was undaunted. After spelling out the strategy for the next day’s work, he finished with a statement I’ll never forget. “And we all just need to be praying for God to move the storm.”
Move the storm. Move. The storm.
I was suddenly embarrassed that a prayer like that had never occurred to me. I whispered to my friend standing nearby, “I was just gonna go buy some plywood.”
I worship a God who parts seas, destroys enemies, creates worlds, saves souls, moves mountains, raises the dead. But if you were to judge my faith based on the audacity of my prayers, you’d think the God I believe in is no bigger or more powerful than, well, me.
One of my favorite badass prayers in the Bible happens in Joshua 10. The Israelites had formed a shady alliance with the Gibeonites (against God’s instruction) and were now obligated to fight battles that were not theirs to fight. (Another blog post for another day.)
Well, five kings combined their five armies to march on Gibeon. The Gibeonites send word to the Israelites, calling for aid, reminding them of their oath. So Joshua gathers the troops and they head toward Gilgal.
So they march literally all through the night, show up and start fighting. God threw the Amorites into confusion and pummeled them with giant hailstones as Israel chased down what was left of their enemies.
(That’s one of the things I love about God. I get myself sign up for disasters all the time. He never says, “You got yourself into this mess. You get yourself out.” He STILL fights for me.)
And then Joshua, who has never been short of faith in His God and His ability, does the unthinkable:
On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!
Joshua didn’t say it in his head, in case God didn’t do what he asked. He said it out loud so all could hear. “Lord, we’re gonna need a little more time to finish these guys off…”
Now I don’t know how God worked all that out. Did the earth stop spinning? Did He make sure just that one spot had more daylight? I don’t know. But I know that He literally moved heaven and earth just because a flawed man with great faith in a flawless God asked Him to.
It’s starting to feel kinda like 2004 these days. The storms keep coming, one after another. And instead of standing together and looking up to God, we’re facing off against each other.
Open up Facebook. Turn on the TV. Listen to the conversation at the table next to you in the restaurant. It’s time for big prayers, people. BIG prayers. Like, sun-stand-still prayers.
After being convicted of only regularly praying for my own little world, I have decided to add one big prayer a day to the end of my routine and keep bangin’ on that door all day long. Wednesday it was sex trafficking:
Lord God, I pray for the victims of sex trafficking right now.
God, for those in captivity, open the door, window, gate and provide an escape. Give them the courage to run and blind any pursuers who may chase them.
Lord, give their rescuers the edge today, supernatural wisdom to know where to go and what to do.
Father, I pray that the deals would fall through, the deliveries wouldn’t be made.
God, turn the hearts and open the eyes of the traffickers to see their victims as human beings, made in Your image and make them sick over what they’ve done and are doing.
Lord, for the ones who have lost hope, who have resigned their identities to this tragic existence, remind them who they are in Your eyes every day. That no matter how many men use their bodies, their souls are intact and not for sale.
God, empower the authorities in these places. Lead them to those who need to be saved.
Father, rally Your people to give generously, to go fearlessly and to pray incessantly until all captives have been set free.
Yesterday, it was the hatred caused by political unrest.
God, I lift up the great United States of America to You today.
Lord, You see what’s happening down here, what’s been happening. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us all.
Father, relationships are being severed, friendships are ending over different political views. It seems that the whole country is boiling with rage and fear. Somehow we remain friends with those who cheer for different sports teams, even practice different religions. But for some reason, this election, this year, anyone with a different political stance is being labeled an enemy.
For the politicians, Lord, I pray for wisdom. Jesus, soften hearts, call forth integrity, respect and dignity. May they come to know you, if they don’t already. And for those who do, stir in their spirits a desire for justice, peace and commitment to lead our country as You lead them.
For the citizens, Lord, protect relationships with friends and family members. Give us Your eyes to see each other, even those we don’t know, as worthy of respect and kindness simply because they were created by You.
Father, I confess I am afraid of what will happen on Election Day. As tensions rise, I pray that the exchange of power will be peaceful.
And God, never let us forget that no matter who is in the White House, You are on the throne and that before we are citizens of the United States, we are citizens of heaven. And instead of being ashamed and embarrassed of how other people are voting, may we be ashamed and embarrassed of how we are treating each other.
Today, it’s the desperate need for racial reconciliation in our country.
Lord Jesus, we need You.
It’s not finished. The civil rights war has not been won. Not yet. Letter of the law says we’re all equal. Spirit of the law says otherwise.
There is still prejudice. There is still mistreatment. There is still oppression, no matter how subtle.
And there is still racism. I know there is because it’s in my own heart. I didn’t even know it was there for a long time. But now that I see it, I’m disgusted by it.
I make assumptions. I feel pity, which can only come from a place of superiority. I confess this, Lord. I repent and I beg You to cleanse me from it.
I now know that there’s so much I DON’T know. I move easily around my white neighborhood, my white friends, my kids’ mostly-white school, my mostly-white jobs. I am given opportunities and benefit of the doubt only because of the color of my skin.
I have only been in the minority twice in my life, by choice, it was a terrifying feeling and I could opt out of those situations at any moment. But I have brothers and sisters who live with that feeling every day, with no choice to opt out.
Father, keep opening our eyes. Bring justice, Lord. Bring healing. For those who are discriminating, change their hearts. For those being discriminated against, empower them with Your strength and grace.
Lord, I’m ready to be part of the solution, instead of being part of the problem by refusing to acknowledge that there IS a problem. Show us the way forward and give us the courage to walk it.
In coming days, I will battle terrorism, abortion, child abuse, persecution and other storms from the safety of my prayer spot. And I will not stop. I will no longer believe the enemy’s lies that prayer doesn’t matter. I will no longer be discouraged when I don’t see the results. I’m gonna put it all in God’s hands, hold mine out for any assignment He wants to put in them and do my best to courageously obey.
It’s time for big prayers, folks. Gutsy prayers. Fearless prayers. Sun-stand-still prayers. Move-the-storm prayers.
We don’t have to be polite or considerate. We don’t have to worry about sounding greedy or needy. Our God is not limited by the laws of nature or the time-space continuum. He’s not only capable of handling logical prayers or reasonable prayers.
There. Is. Nothing. Too. Big. For. Our. God.
So let’s ask Him for the unbelievable.
And then believe.
